Bruised and Scared
by BookWriter2014
Summary: Belle's kingdom has just won the war with Queen Cora, but before they can even celebrate, they learn that Cora had enslaved the Dark One, now their prisanor. But Belle sees past the monster to the man underneath. She makes a deal with her father that allows her to help him, but she soon learns that it may already be too late to fix Rumplestilskin's broken heart.
1. Chapter 1

Belle hated being treated helpless. Yes, she was a princess, but that didn't mean she had to be the one being saved. For her entire life, she had been treated like she could handle anything, eventually she had managed to convince her overly protective father to let her take a few lessons from his best knights. That had been five years ago. Now here she was, still forced to attend her father's meetings dressed up formally, as her father said a princess should, while at the same time she had to wake up at the crack of dawn almost every day to practice with Lumiare, her father's head knight.

That was her life, and though it hadn't been perfect, she had loved it. But everything changed three months ago when Queen Cora of Wonderland had threatened to take over their kingdom if they didn't help her destroy her daughter's kingdom. Belle had already known from her father that Cora was a little off her rocker, and had tried multiple times to force her daughter into power and had eventually succeeded, but her daughter had banished her from their lands with the help of young outlaw Snow White.

Years later, Cora had returned and forced a rift between the step mother and daughter, until eventually Regina had pushed Snow White out of her heart. Unfortunately the Queen had stopped there, she wanted to take her daughter's power in revenge for everything she had ever done for Regina that her daughter had tossed away. Slowly Cora broke Regina's heart piece by piece and that had caused the beginning of the war.

Regina and her husband had gone to King Maurice, Belle's father for help. In response, the kingdom of Avalon had declared war on Wonderland and had told Cora in no uncertain terms to back down. At first, it had seemed like Cora would, but then she used her greatest weapon against them, a man known simply as the Dark one, whose loyalty to Cora was unquestioned. With the Dark one's help, Cora had ravaged the land before Princess Snow White had suggested that they strike wonderland's palace while tricking Cora into having her "pet", the Dark one attack Regina's palace.

Belle huffed angrily, if Snow White was allowed to help why wasn't she? She knew she shouldn't be jealous, but she couldn't help it. She had read about people's adventures her whole life, and the one time where she was actually willing to put one of her precious books down to help her kingdom, her father had refused. And to further emphazise his point, had put a stop to her lessons.

Presently, Belle was in the library, her favorite place in the entire palace, reading about war techniques. She was curled up on the window seal reading, but after a while, she closed the book and sighed. For once she wasn't in the mood to read about adventure, so she climbed out of her spot and replaced the war book with one about romance.

Belle usually didn't read about romances, mainly because of the two character's love only came from their love for each other's beauty. Many times it never once would mention what lay in the person's heart. Only their beauty. That's what Belle truly hated about romance stories, they were only ever skin deep. Belle didn't believe that, she believed love was layered, not to be determined by the person's appearance.

Belle was just reading about the part where the two lovers first meet, when three guards came in. She barely noticed their approach and kept reading, finger moving along the line she was reading in order to keep her place in case she was interrupted.

"Princess Belle, we are to escort you to the King's throne room," the first guard said sternly, his eyes cold. That's the one thing that always bugged her about the knights. They never smiled, except for a few such as Lumiare.

"Why? Have they returned from Wonderland?" Belle asked, setting the book down, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Yes, now follow me, there's something your father wishes to speak to you about," another guard said and offered his arm to her with a cheap smile. Gaston. He was always chasing after her, even though she had absolutely no interest in him. He was always treating her like she was a damsel just waiting to be saved. Belle wasn't going to wait around for anyone, and had told him to leave her alone. Unfortunately, her father had seemed to like the idea of her having a knight as her betrothed, so he had insisted that she at least try and get to know him. Belle had reluctantly agreed.

"Then let's go," Belle replied hotly, she was tired of Gaston chasing her, and was soon going to bring the matter up with her father.

Gaston frowned, and narrowed his piercing blue eyes at her, angry. But the other two knights simply led her out of the library and towards her father's throne room, Gaston trailing behind her, still angry.

When they arrived at the throne room, her father was standing beside a small table discussing something with his head advisers, and two of his knights.

"Hello Papa," Belle greeted him cheerfully, stepping farther into the room. Maurice turned around and smiled at his only daughter, his eyes gentle.

"Hello Belle, I need to speak with you about something," he said softly, he motioned her over to the table, and she quickly joined them.

"So, did we win?" Belle asked her father carefully, he had forbidden her from asking about the war, stating that it didn't concern her at the moment though it most certainly had.

"Yes, we did," Maurice sighed, "Unfortunately Cora escaped, and Regina took a very broken prisanor; one that we will hopefully retrieve for the sake of our kingdom,"

Belle frowned, "I thought Queen Regina was our ally Papa,"

"She was, but now she wishes to use the dark one to find and kill her mother, she believes that she is responsible for her misery," Maurice told her.

"The dark one? I thought he was completely loyal to Cora," Belle gasped in surprise, the evil monster of a man had never questioned his queen before, had never even given the slightest hint of treason, or at least that's what Belle had heard.

"That's what we thought, but now we have reason to believe that loyalty may not have been the reason for his servitude to Cora," Maurice said softly, he shook himself, "Now, it's getting late, off to bed with you."

"Papa . . ." Belle instantly complained, "I'm almost twenty-one, you have to stop treating me like a little girl,"

"Yes, yes, I know," her father sighed, "But I still want you to go to your room and stay there,"

"But-"

"No buts, Revu, Gaston, take her to her room and make sure she doesn't leave it," Maurice said firmly.

Belle groaned, and rolled her eyes as the two knights led her up to her room and shut the door behind her, not before Gaston however offered her to stay in his room, and Belle promptly shut the door in his face at the offer, disgusted.

Several hours later, after Belle had once again curled up with a good book on her bed, she heard loud shouting from the palace entrance, and within a few moments, she heard Gaston and Revu running towards the throne room.

Not one to sit around and wait for someone to tell her what was happening, Belle jumped off her bed and stumbled to the door. She listened for the guards for a moment, then slowly opened the door, wincing as it squeaked, then she warily slipped out into the hall and hurried in the direction of the throne room.

Several guards were already rushing into the room, none of them taking any notice of Belle who slipped in after them, but unlike the guards who rushed to the center of the room, where her father was, she stayed in the shadows, determined not to be noticed. If she were noticed, she would probably be kicked back to her room and locked there for the rest of the week for disobeying her father's orders.

Belle couldn't see what had everyone so worked up, that was until the doors to the throne room were flung open and at least ten to twelve guards entered the room. In the middle of the cluster of guards, it appeared someone or something was being dragged between two knights.

"We found him, your majesty and we stole "it" from Queen Regina, though she won't be pleased when she learns that the dagger she has, is a fake," Lumiare said, motioning with his hand towards the something.

"He needs medical attention though, but I can assure you that the dagger does very much control him, see for yourself," Lumiare handed a wavy bladed dagger to her father that had writing on it, though she couldn't make out what it said from where she was.

Control someone? That dagger controls the dark one? That's horrible! How could anyone want to have complete control over anyone, Belle thought, absolutely shocked.

She didn't process what was truly going on until her father's fingers enclosed the blade and he spoke a strange word, the person who been dragged between the two knight's head snapped up. Even from where she was, Belle could see his eyes were wide open.

"No!" she yelled, and raced across the room surprisingly fast for someone in a dress, and high heels.

"Belle! What are you doing in here, you're supposed to be in your room sweetheart," Maurice seemed shocked to see her there.

"Papa, you can't take his dagger if it controls him," Belle pleaded, without even glancing at the man to see how he was reacting.

"Belle, this man was dangerous and did many bad things even before he became a slave to Cora, he's just better known from being her slave," Maurice tried to reason, "He's killed people without mercy before he became a slave, terrified people, and made deals that almost always ended badly for the person dealing with him. He's a monster Belle."

Belle shuddered when she learned this bit of information about the Dark one, she had every reason to believe what her father was saying was true. Not matter how protective he was of her, he had never lied to her about anything.

"He's a monster Belle, just look at him," Maurice motioned for the knights standing in front of their new prisanor to move so she could have a better look at him.

He didn't look anything like she had suspected him to. She had pictured him to be very large

and muscular, like a knight normally was, but with cruel dark eyes, that burned with hatred,

and would have dragon hide clothing and countless scars . . . This man was not any of those

things.

He had golden-greenish skin, with long matted black hair that went to his shoulders. He himself

Wasn't as large as she had imagined, in fact he was quite small, probably only a couple of

Inches taller than herself. Her breath hitched in her throat, but not for the reason that her

Father would expect, it was because of how badly injured he truly was. He was slouching against one of the guards, barely standing. His right leg seemed fairly ok, but his left one was coated in dark red blood with green liquid oozing out of several places, while fresh blood dripped down to the floor, creating a small scarlet puddle. Two slash marks crossed his chest, while his wrist looked broken. Besides the obvious injuries, he was coated in bruises and scrapes. His thin and very dirty clothing was torn in many places, especially at his left leg, where it barely came to his knee before ending abruptly. Blood dripped down from his mouth and nose, evidence that he had been hit several times. His right eye was blackened from another blow. And his eyes . . .

Belle found that his eyes was the most enchanting part about him, his were a deep chocolate brown with hints of amber; but it was the look in them that made her heart ache for his pain. There was clear misery and agony in his eyes, but unfortunately there was also hatred, for he was watching Maurice, who was still holding the dagger. That hatred was the only thing anyone else could see.

"Papa, no one has the right to take away someone's will, please, he's hurt and he needs medical attention," Belle pleaded, turning to look at her father with a practiced puppy dog face.

"Belle, he's dangerous," Maurice said firmly.

"He's hurt Papa," Belle pleaded, tears now pooling into her eyes, she was the master of the puppy-dog face, and even the knights were looking away, not wanting to feel guilty about what they were doing.

"Fine, I'll have Mrs. Potts tend to his injuries and I'll have him stay in a room in the west wing. But I will keep the dagger until we can prove he's not dangerous and won't hurt our kingdom," Maurice finally relented. "But you WILL stay away from him Belle,"

"But Papa, you have the dagger, he can't hurt me. Besides I want to help him," Belle continued to plea.

"No"

"Please,"

"No,"

"I'll dress more formally,"

"No,"

"I'll act more like a princess should,"

"No," Bell sighed, thinking hard. What would convince her father to let her help this man, what did he want her to do more than anything. Then it struck her, and she felt a sickening feeling erupt in her stomach. There was ONE thing that might convince her father.

"I'll give Gaston a chance if you let me help this man Papa," Belle said quietly. Her father, as well as the young arrogant knight's interest perked up again.

"You will go on a few dates with him?" her father questioned,

"Yes, and like I said before Papa, he can't hurt me if you have the dagger," Belle insisted with a small glance at the man. He looked about to pass out.

"Let's do it this way," her father said, holding up his hand for her to be quiet, "If you can prove that this beast isn't dangerous in two months time, then I will let him have his dagger back, but for those two months you will date Gaston, and if you can't prove he's trustworthy, he will remain in our care, but in the dungeon."

Belle thought about it, and was about to reply when the Dark one spoke up for the first time.

"A deal, no one can ever back out on a deal, master," he rasped, his voice extremely hoarse from lack of use. For several minutes, Belle was in too much shock at the man's words to do anything but gawk at him. Finally she pulled herself together and told her father that he had a deal.

They shook on it, and Maurice had the knights take the Dark One up to a vacant room in the west wing, while he sent Belle to go find the head nurse, Mrs. Potts.

When they arrived at the room, her father was waiting outside, and the two knights on guard let Mrs. Potts and her small crew of nurses in to care for the man. Right before Belle could enter the room, her father stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"Not while he doesn't have clothes on Belle, they have to tend to all of his wounds and change his clothing so that he doesn't get an infection," Maurice said firmly, this time Belle knew she couldn't talk him into letting her into the room while the nurses were starting to work on the Dark One.

So she waited out in the hall for them to finish until she realized that she had forgotten one very important detail about the man. She had forgotten to ask for his name.

"Papa,"

"Yes my darling,"

"What's his name?"

Maurice looked at her, then pulled the dagger out of his belt to look at it for a moment, then placed it back at his belt, the words facing his leg.

"It's Rumplestilskin," he said.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ok Belle, you can come in now, he's decent," Mrs. Potts said opening the door. The older woman seemed surprised to see Belle standing in the hall alone.

"My father went down to the throne room to discuss what Regina might do with his head knights," Belle explained, and then followed Mrs. Potts into the room.

Rumplestilskin's room was a fairly good size, with light blue walls and a small window on one side. A bed was the only furniture that preoccupied the room, which sat in the corner. On the bed lay Rumplestilskin, several nurses still working on his injuries as well as tending to other things.

Mrs. Potts led the way over to the bed, and scooted two younger nurses out of the way so that Belle could watch them as they worked.

Her stomach dropped and she felt sick when she saw how much worse he actually looked. His ribs jutted out so that she could easily count them; the bruises seemed darker, worse than before. But his left leg was the worst part of it. It was swollen badly, and the bandages that wrapped around it were stained nasty colors of slimy green and yellow as well as scarlet red.

"He looks worse," she whispered in horror. Mrs. Potts looked over at her and shook her head.

"No sweetie, he's much better than he was, believe me. Now that his wounds are being tended to he'll be as good as new, physically at least," Mrs. Potts said encouragingly.

"What do you mean physically at least?" Belle instantly questioned, she could hear the worry in her friend's voice. Mrs. Potts readjusted the pale brown night pants that she had put onto Rumplestilskin. Belle then noticed that the pants were the only thing that he was wearing other than the bandages. But then again, his chest and arms were mostly covered in bandages so it didn't really matter.

"Honey, you can't expect someone to go through something like this and not have emotionally problems, not to mention all of his physical injuries. It will take some time for him to recover," Mrs. Potts told her. She rested her hand on Belle's shoulder for a moment, soothing her, before she turned back to wash Rumplestilskin's stomach off.

"I'll wash his hair out, it looks like it could use it," Belle said, desperate to start helping the poor man. Mrs. Potts nodded, and had one of the nurses go get a busket of warn water, some soap and a wash cloth.

Belle stood at the head of the bed with her supplies and gently began to wash through his filthy hair, carefully sudding his hair with soap before using the cloth and water to rinse it out. She repeated this for a few hours before his hair had reached her approval. Then she began to comb through his hair as gently as she could, though from time to time she would pull a little too hard, causing him to whimper softly in his sleep.

Every time this happened Belle would apologize as if he were awake and would proceed gentler than before.

Soon Belle noticed with great relief and satisfaction that he was looking much better than when she had first come into his room.

Finished with her task, Belle set the cloth down into the dirty water and peered over to get a better look at his face.

He looks scared, Belle thought to herself as she inspected his face. His mouth was turned down into a frown, his eyebrows bending down as well, while the sides of his mouth with occasionally twitch as he dreamt.

But his expression wasn't what interested her, it was his facial features. He had a slightly crooked nose, which had probably been broken at one time, and a thin mouth. Whenever his lips twitched like he was about to say something, she could see that his teeth were yellowed and nasty looking.

She wished she could see his eyes again. That had been what had made her feel sorry for him so much in the first place. Only this time she wanted to see his deep brown eyes sparkle as he laughed or smiled.

What am I thinking? Belle shook herself, shocked by where her thoughts had been heading.

"Is something wrong Belle?" Ashley, one of the nurses asked. Her blonde hair falling down into her face.

"No, I'm fine," Belle reassured the young woman, "Is Dr. Wales coming to help with Rumplestilskin once he gets back to the palace?" Dr. Victor Wales was a very talented and well known doctor throughout the land. Currently he was fixing up the injured from the war, and afterwards would be heading back to the palace.

"I don't know, sorry. We'll have to ask Mrs. Potts when she gets back," Ashley said, readjusting her hair back into its ponytail so it was out of her way. Mrs. Potts had left several minutes ago to collect fresh herbs from their hospital wing.

She had stated that Rumplestilskin was running a very high fever from the blood poisoning, and being out in the weather. She hadn't brought the herbs for fever and sickness with her, so she had to go and retrieve them.

Suddenly, Rumplestilskin jerked awake and bolted up right, his eyes wide open with terror. Ashley jumped back in fear and gave a small shriek of alarm while the other two nurses just stood frozen watching him.

Belle herself was too shocked to see him suddenly awake to really do anything. Then the man turned his head and looked at her with sadness and terror in his deep chocolate brown eyes. He didn't say anything, he just stared at her. Belle stared right back at him until she finally managed to get a hold of herself.

"Hello," she said sweetly, trying to reassure him that she wasn't going to hurt him, "My name's Belle, you're Rumplestilskin right?"

"Yes," his voice shook, and it tore Belle's heart.

"How do you feel Rumplestilskin?" she asked him very, very gently, trying not to scare him.

"Normal," he said softly, hauling himself off the bed.

"Oh no, stay on that bed mister, you need to rest," Mrs. Potts exclaimed as she came in. She rushed over to him and forced him to lie back down.

"What do you mean you feel normal?" Belle asked him, a cold claw of worry and sympathy clutching her heart.

"I feel as I normally do mistress," him calling her mistress caught not only the nurses off guard but Belle as well.

He suddenly seemed to realize his mistake, "You don't have my dagger?" he asked softly.

"My father does, until he knows that you won't hurt anyone," Belle said gently, she reached over to brush a strand of hair out of his eyes, but when she did so, he flinched away.

Belle jerked her hand back, realizing with guilt that she'd scared him. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you Rumplestilskin".

"Why?" he whispered, his eyes wide. He bit his lip, almost as if he was preparing himself to be hit.

"What do you mean why? She just didn't want to scare you," Arial, a red head said, cocking her head to one side in confusion. Arial was one of Belle's closest friends alongside Ruby, who worked in the kitchens with her grandmother.

"Why do you care if I'm scared?" he asked, trembling, Belle saw a look of fear cross his face, and she wanted nothing more than to give him a hug and make all of his fears vanish with the sound of her voice.

"I want to help you," Belle told him truthfully, "I hate seeing people hurt like this. That's why I care that I scared you".

"Belle," Mrs. Potts spoke up, "Can you go down to the kitchens and get a plate of food from Ruby so we can get something into him, he's malnourished and dehydrated, so make sure to bring plenty of water as well."

Belle nodded, and left the room, quickly racing down the stairs to the kitchen in her favorite blue dress.

When she reached the kitchen door, Ruby was already heading out to greet her, "Hey Belle, I heard what happened earlier. Are you really going to take care of the Dark one? Was he hurt badly? Are you going to go out with Gaston? Details, I need details!" The dark brown haired woman said, her green eyes glittering with excitement.

"I need some food for him and some water, you can come with me and I can tell you on the way," Belle said. Ruby nodded and instantly dashed off, back into the kitchen for a few more moments before coming out carrying a plate containing a bowl of soup and a glass of water.

Ruby expertly balanced the plate as they headed back up towards the west wing while Belle explained what had happened which was interrupted by Ruby asking her something every other word she got in.

"Is he angry?"

"No, he's really scared. I think he thought we were going to hit him when he spoke without being asked to."

"That's sad, I wonder what Cora did to him," Ruby commented. Belle's belly burned with fury at the mention of the Queen's name. Despite only having known Rumplestilskin for barely a few hours, she still felt extremely protective of him, like a mother hen.

When they reached the door to Rumplestilskin's room, the three younger nurses were pouting outside. They looked up as Ruby and Belle approached.

"Mrs. Potts says that only she and Belle are allowed to go in," Ashley said unhappily, "She says that it makes him more nervous when there's lots of people close to him."

"But I want to see him," Ruby complained, Ashley walked forward and took her arm through Ruby's, leading the still complaining Ruby away.

Belle took the plate from her before she left with the others and went in. Rumplestilskin was sitting on the bed, his legs hanging off. Mrs. Potts was having him do a routine check of how well he could move, to see if she had missed any injuries.

As soon as Belle entered the room, his head jerked up, eyes wide and alert. He watched her walk over to them, his eyes never leaving her, though he never looked her directly in the eye.

"Here's some soup. It'll help you feel better," Belle said, sitting down on the bed beside him. He once again jerked away, and settled on the edge of the bed, as far away from Belle as possible.

Mrs. Potts sighed, and motioned for Belle to go ahead and give him the plate.

"Here's your soup. Don't worry it's really tasty. My friend Ruby made it, and she's a really god cook," Belle explained, holding the plate out to him.

He looked uncertainly at it for a moment, but after his stomach growled, he reached for it with shaking hands and took the plate from her. He rested it on his lap and then looked over at Belle, as if he were asking permission to eat.

"Go ahead," Belle said, smiling encouragingly. He slowly spooned a couple of mouthfuls to his mouth, but then his appetite won out and he started wolfing down the soup as if he had never seen food before. But then again, he probably hadn't eaten this well in a while.

After polishing off the last bits of soup, even going as far as to lick the inside of the bowl clean, he downed the glass of water in one long pull.

"Thank you miss," he said, placing the plate in the space between them on the bed. Belle took it and handed it to Mrs. Potts, who smiled.

"Now that you've eaten, you need to get some rest. Your body needs it," she said gently. Then she turned to belle and added, "I'm going down to the kitchen to return these". With that said, she left the room, leaving Belle alone with Rumplestilskin who still seemed uneasy.

"Ok, well let's get you to bed then," Belle said, standing up. "Are you ok with me helping to move your leg back onto the bed?"

"It doesn't matter Miss," he replied, his voice still a little shaky, but firmer than before. Belle's heart ached as she thought about the darker meaning to his words. He thinks he doesn't have a choice because my father has the dagger, she realized with great sadness.

She gently helped him lift his left leg over onto the body, though he kept flinching every time she moved her hand. She wondered if this was due to the pain his leg was causing him or was he believing that she was going to hurt him? Belle hoped it wasn't the latter.

After he was laying down on the bed, his head of the pillow, Bed had had to encourage him to get him to use it, she put a light blanket over him to keep him warm, but not overly hot because of his fever.

She looked back at him as she was leaving the room, he was watching her, but avoiding her gaze. "Goodnight Rumplestilskin," she said.

He didn't reply, he merely continued to watch her with a sad and hopeless look in his eyes. Her heart shattered and broke in sympathy for him and for what he had been through.

When she left the room, she shut the door behind her and noticed two guards standing on either side of the door.

"King Maurice wants us to keep an eye on the prisanor," the first knight, a man named Clocksworth said sternly.

"Clocksworth, he's not our prisanor. He's our guest, sorry about the Belle," Lumiare said with an ever happy smile present on his face.

"Thank you Lumiare," Belle said, and then headed back towards her own room, it had been a long day and she was ready to get some sleep.

As she climbed into bed a little while later, she realized that it was going to be harder to help Rumplestilskin than she had originally thought.


	3. Chapter 3

After breakfast the next morning Belle was heading down to the library, hoping to get a new book to read before she went and visited Rumplestilskin.

Unfortunately she wasn't the only one in the library that morning.

"Good morning Belle, you look absolutely stunning as always," Gaston said, he stepped in front of her, blocking the book that she had been reaching for.

"Excuse me Gaston, I want to get that book down," Belle said politely. She remembered her deal with her father and despite her anger towards Gaston, she was determined to keep her word.

Gaston glanced back at the shelf and pretended to appear surprised, "You don't need to read my lovely Belle; you have me to tell you all kinds of stories".

"Like what?" Belle asked, trying to sound interested, even though she could already guess what the stories were about.

"You said that you would go on a few dates with me, so let's have one right now," Gaston said, smiling broadly, his eyes glittering with satisfaction.

Belle grimaced, "Sorry, I have to go check on Rumplestilskin. Maybe later?" She moved to get the book from behind him, but he moved quickly, once again blocking her from the shelf. Gaston moved towards her, hooking her arm with his.

"I'm sure that monster can wait a few hours, besides you made a deal," Gaston pointed out.

"Rumplestilskin's not a monster Gaston," Belle snapped as he led her over to the table and then motioned for her to sit down across from him.

Belle spent the rest of the afternoon listening to how great of a hunter and a knight Gaston was. He talked about how he beat everyone in his year when he had still been an apprentice, and how he had killed a boar on his very first hunt. Never once did he ask Belle's opinion, it was like he just assumed she thought he was as great as he thought he was.

"Oh, I almost forgot, I have to help teach the new recruits. I'm sorry Belle, but we'll have to parts ways until later," Gaston reached for her hand, but she pulled it back just in time.

"Yes, goodbye," Belle said swiftly, then headed for the door, but once again, Gaston cut off her route.

"Oh and Belle, word of advice, next time we have a date, you might want to wear something more princess like instead of those peasant rags," Gaston said, then ducked out of the room, leaving Belle to glare after him, hating him.

She didn't wear peasant rags, as Gaston had put it. Her dress was just much more casual than what princesses usually wore. Hers was a simple blue and white dress. It had been her mother's, which was only one of the reasons why it was her favorite.

Belle sighed, hoping that her father wouldn't expect her to fall for that knight, and if he did, then she had news for him. It wasn't going to happen, ever.

Belle angrily headed down to Rumplestilskin's room, her book long forgotten. When she got there, Mrs. Potts was coming out, carrying a plate of half eaten food.

"He's not very hungry today," she said noticing Belle's look of surprise. "Probably because he's not used to eating on a regular basis". Belle nodded, and went into the room.

Rumplestilskin was sitting on is bed, a faraway look in his eyes. When he noticed her, the look vanished, replaced by fear and suspicion.

"Hello," Belle said, she folded her hands in front of her, unsure of what she was planning on actually doing, "How are you today?"

"I'm fine," he replied, his voice still a little hoarse. He still avoided her gaze, only glancing at her face when she spoke or moved.

"That's good," Belle said. For several minutes they sat in silence, neither knowing what to say, then luckily Mrs. Potts came in carrying a book.

"Ruby said that you left this down in the kitchen the other day Belle," she said, handing the book to her.

"Oh thanks. I was wondering where this had gotten to," Belle said gratefully. She had been hanging out with Ruby while her friend had worked, and had brought a book with her to read when things got busy. She had been looking for it for a couple of days since it was one of her favorites.

"Yep, are you ok to be by yourself with him," she tilted her head towards Rumplestilskin who remained silent, "I have to go help some of the wounded soldiers they're bringing in today."

"Sure, no problem," Belle said, smiling. Mrs. Potts nodded and left the room once again.

Belle turned to her book, and thumbed through it, looking for her favorite part. She wondered if Rumplestilskin liked stories.

"Do you like reading?" Belle asked him, "Because I could read to you if you want," He looked at her blankly for a moment then replied,

"I don't mind," he said.

"Ok, well I'll start at the beginning so you don't get lost," Belle said happily and sat down on the bed with him, unsure of what else to do. Maybe if she read to him, it would show him that she wasn't going to harm him. Yes, that was the obstacle she would tackle next now that his wounds and sickness were being taken care of.

"Once upon a time, in a faraway land, two twin brothers worked for their father's plumbing business. Unfortunately he soon passed away from a fire that started in their shop. The fire left them homeless and without any money, so when the princess of their land was kidnapped and the majority of the kingdom's army was off fighting their enemies, the two brothers in exchange for money agreed to go rescue her, though the soldier who had made the deal with them didn't believe they could do it," Belle read.

Belle spent the next few hours reading to him, and though he didn't want to admit it, the princess's calm and even voice soothed him. It made him temporarily forget what had happened to him, and where he was.

Unconciously, he scooted a little closer to hear her better, and tilted his head to watch her facial expressions as she read to him, rarely looking up. This was the first time he had actually looked at her face. Every other time, he had avoided looking at her face as a good slave should, or at least that's what Cora had taught him. He still remembered the first time he had bend bent to her will without prompting from the dagger.

" _You are to always call me mistress understand pet?" Cora hissed, her face inches from his. They were in the forsaken dungeon, where Rumplestilskin was kneeling down before Cora, his head thrown back so he could look at her. Not that he had much choice, she was holding the dagger's blade at his throat forcing him to._

" _Never," he snarled. He wouldn't break, not for the sake of Bae._

 _The pressure left his throat and then slid across his face, cold and fast. He bit his lip to keep from crying out in pain. Then she slid it down his neck to his collarbone and dug it into his flesh. This time he couldn't keep himself from whimpering in pain._

" _Stay quiet," she snarled and slashed at his ribs and chest. She continued to slash at him with the dagger until he fell back, losing conscious from how much blood he was losing. That only made things worse. Instead of slashing at him with the dagger, she kicked him vicously in the stomach, chest and his legs. Once she even kicked him in every guys' number one weak spot, which made him see stars._

 _This proceeded for several hours until finally he managed to choke out in a barely audible voice, "Please mistress". Cora paused in her cruel treatment of him and grinned, clearly pleased._

" _I'm sorry mistress," she said, prompting him._

 _Rumple swallowed hard, tears flowing from his eyes, not just from the pain but also from the humiliation. "Please mistress, I'm sorry for disobeying you"._

"Rumple," Belle said quietly, snapping him out of the memory. He looked over at her and saw that she had stopped reading, and was looking at him with concern.

"You're trembling, are you ok?" she asked him. This was not what he was expecting; he had expected her to hit him for being so close to her. Instead there was only worry and concern in her eyes.

Her eyes, his heart skipped a beat. Her eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue he had ever seen. He opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out.

Belle watched him, afraid he would jerk away as he had before. At first when she had looked up, she had been happy and pleased to see that he was sitting closer to her than he had been when she had started reading. Unfortunately she had then noticed that he was trembling.

He still didn't answer her question.

"Are you ok?" she repeated, wanting desperately to give him a hug and soothe his worries and fears away. She didn't know why she was so protective of him, she just knew that she wanted nothing bad to ever happen to him again.

"Y-yes, I'm ok," he finally managed to say.

"I'm sorry, did I say something that scared you?" she asked, watching him closely for any sign that he may retreat back to the end of the bed.

"No, I just got wrapped up in my thoughts is all," he said. Belle smiled, this was the first time he hadn't sounded hoarse or scared.

"Belle," Lumiare poked his head inside the room, "You've missed dinner. Ruby saved some food for you down in the kitchen.

"Ok thanks Lumiare," she said, then she turned back to Rumplestilskin, "I have to go, I'll see you again tomorrow ok?"

"Ok," was all he said. Belle nodded and hurried out of the room, leaving Rumplestilskin alone with his bad memories and dark thoughts.

I'll never be able to complete my mission, he thought miserably. I've failed Bae.

He put his face in his heads, even though there was no danger of crying now. Not after what Cora had put him through.

He was about to start thinking about what had happened at Cora's palace when he saw Belle's book lying on the bed still. She must have forgotten it again, he thought. To his own surprise, he found himself amused by this. Obviously the princess was very forgetful. Or was she, his thoughts once again took a darker path. Prehaps she had left it here on purpose to see what he would do with it. Other than that, he couldn't think of any other reason she would have left it.

Eventually, tired of his own thoughts and memories, he picked up the book and settled back against the pillow, deciding to enjoy the peace while it lasted. It would help him survive when the pain and torture came.

He found the page Belle had bookmarked and began to read.


	4. Chapter 4

Belle was frustrated and anger the next morning when she realized that she couldn't find her favorite book that she had been reading to Rumplestilskin the night before. It was probable a good thing her father still had the poor man's dagger, if she had, she would have lost it by now.

"Belle, let's go. Today's a big day!" Mrs. Potts called from outside the young princess's room. Sighing, Belle left her room and followed Mrs. Potts down to Rumplestilskin's room. On the way there, Mrs. Potts seemed to notice Belle's foul mood.

"What's wrong dear?" she asked, her eyes softening.

"I lost the book I was reading to him; it seemed like he relaxed a little while I was reading," Belle said unhappily, "Plus it was my favorite story".

"Maybe it's still in his room, perhaps?" Mrs. Potts suggested, apparently amused.

"You saw it?" Belle said, feeling like a complete idiot.

"Yes, he was reading it when I checked in on him; though he seemed quite upset that I had caught him doing so. Poor dear, I can't imagine what his life must've been like with Cora. He lost his freedom and willpower all in one day probable. It's no wonder he's a mess now," Mrs. Potts said shaking her sadly as they reached his door.

Belle found herself imaging him curled up on the bed, quietly reading her book. She wondered if his facial expressions would change as he read different scenes, like she sometimes did.

"Good morning Lumiare, Clocksworth," Belle greeted the two knights on guard before following Mrs. Potts in.

While Mrs. Potts set the tray down on a side table that had been placed in the room recently, Belle leaned the pair of crutches up against the wall and walked over to the bed where Rumplestilskin was still sleeping. The book lay on his lap; his thumb sticking into it to mark his spot.

He seemed much more relaxed asleep, than awake. The corners of his mouth tilted upward in a slight smile; and more obviously, he wasn't in the least bit tense. Apparently the story had helped calm him.

Belle found herself smiling as she watched the gentle rise and fall of his chest as he slept. She didn't want to wake him, not really. Not when he seemed so peaceful. She found herself wondering what it would be like to see him like this when he was wide awake. Would his deep brown eyes sparkle when he smiled? Or would they have a mischievous look to them? All Belle really knew in that moment was that she wanted to see him smile while he was awake, maybe he would smile at her silly clumsiness or maybe, just maybe he would smile just because he was happy to see her.

"Alright time to wake him up," Mrs. Potts said, snapping Belle out of her fantasy as she came to stand beside her.

Belle nodded quickly, shaking off the last bit of her trance. She reached forward and gently shook his shoulder. He bolted upright immediately. Eyes wide with terror, body tense.

He flinched back when he saw Belle standing so close to him.

"I'm sorry," Belle said softly, "I didn't mean to startle you Rumple". She didn't know where the nickname had come from, but it seemed right.

"No, no it's fine Miss," he stammered, still nervous.

"How is your leg feeling today?" Mrs. Potts asked. She began to check his injured leg, feeling the muscle and what not.

"It feels better," he said, flinching automaticly, as if he expected to be hit for speaking the truth. Belle felt proud of him for starting to become accustomed to speaking up.

"Do you think you can start walking with the help of crutches?" Mrs. Potts asked, motioning to the crutches leaning against the wall where Belle had left them.

"Maybe," he said, his voice barely audible.

Belle left the bed side and went over to get the crutches before returning to hand them to Rumplestilskin, who was slowly getting off the bed, careful not to put much weight on his leg.

He took them, wincing when their fingers brushed, then silently put them under his arms, clearly an expert on how to use them.

"You've used crutches before?" Belle asked, surprised. She assumed that he would merely use magic to heal any injuries he had had prior to being Cora's slave.

"Once or twice," he admitted, already beginning to limp around the room on them. Belle had helped Mrs. Potts with patients several times before, but had never seen any of the patients use the crutches like they had used them every day of their life.

"How's your leg holding up?" Mrs. Potts asked, watching him carefully as he limped about.

"Well enough," he replied, then added in a louder tone, "Thank you Miss,"

"Potts," Mrs. Potts replied, "Please call me Mrs. Potts".

Rumplestilskin avoided her gaze, but nodded his head obediently, "Yes Ma'm Mrs. Potts," he said. Mrs. Potts nodded, and gestured to Belle, "This is Belle, you may call her whatever she wants you too". Once again he nodded, but didn't say anything this time. It seemed he was getting braver though, Belle noted.

"Belle's fine, I don't like formality much," she said with a smile. Rumple just stared at her, fear still visible in his eyes.

"Belle, would you mind terribly if you were the one to help him with physical therapy, I still have to help Dr. Wales with the other war patients," Mrs. Potts asked.

"No, I'd love to help," Belle smiled, and as soon as Mrs. Potts left the room, Rumple spoke up.

"Physical therapy," he whispered, beginning to tremble, his eyes wide. She looked at him; he was cowering fearfully as if he expected her to hurt him.

Belle decided it was high time to show him she meant him no harm. She took her dress gently in her hands and sat down on the dusty floor.

Rumple stared at her for a moment, then struggled to sit on the floor across from her. Belle was instantly worried, "Why don't we just sit down on the bed instead?" she suggested, not wanting him to hurt himself by accident.

"Yes miss Belle," he said, and limped over to the bed; setting the crutches down on the floor so they were out of the way. Belle stood up and joined him on the bed. He scooted back, so that they were as far apart as possible. Clear evidence that he still feared her.

"Ok, so let's start with a simple stretch," Belle said, remembering what Mrs. Potts had told her last night when the two had been eating their food down in the kitchen while chatting with Ruby.

"Bring your legs over onto the bed and touch your toes, but keep your legs straight," Belle instructed, and watched as he obediently followed her instructions. But it became obvious that Rumple's leg clearly hurt him, for he didn't reach all the way. His fingers were just inches away from his toes. He grunted in pain, but then looked up at her with his eyes. He bit his lower lip, worried.

"Good job," she praised him, "I believe that means you don't have any rotten muscles". They spent the rest of the morning going through the remaining exercises that could be done on the bed. Even when he didn't do well on them, she still encouraged and praised him, realizing how much that he needed someone to believe in him.

By the end of the last exercise, she could see his eyes were beginning to water from the pain, and saw that despite her best attempts, he still looked so unhappy. She bit her lip, wondering what she could do to lift his spirits. That's when she noticed the book lying beside him.

"Rumple, can you hand me that book by you please?" Belle asked politely, but gently. She had learned over the short amount of time she knew him that almost anything could greatly upset him.

"Yes Miss Belle," he droned, and submissively handed her the book. Belle frowned at this, she didn't want him to be submissive, she wanted him to have his freedom back, and to be happy.

She thumbed to the place where he had last read, and asked softly, "Would you like me to read to you?"

To her absolute delight, his eyes shone like stars at that question, and he nodded his head enthusiasticly. He threw both legs over the edge of the bed, so that eh was sitting like she was, and looked at her with an almost happy expression. She smiled at him and began to read once again.

At some point during the story, both of their stomachs, especially Belle's began to growl. Belle placed the book down on her lap, and glanced over at the tray, where the food from earlier was still sitting.

Rumple watched her, watching the food. She turned and saw this. She could tell he was starving but also figured that he wouldn't ask.

So she stood up and walked over to the small table and motioned for him to join her. He warily got up and walked over to her with the help of his crutches.

She pulled the chair out from the table and gestured for him to sit down, he silently obeyed; sitting down with a quiet but relieved sigh. Obviously his leg was hurting more now than it had been this morning.

"Do you like tea?" she asked him, which drew a blank look from him.

"That matters to you Miss Belle?" he seemed surprised, but pleasantly so. She nodded, and he quietly, uncertainly replied, "Yes, I like it,"

"Great," Belle said happily and poured two cups. She handed one to him, then made his plate, making sure that he had more food than she did; she knew he needed to gain weight so that he would be healthier.

He stared at it, and she swore that his eyes doubled in size in obvious shock. He peeked at her from the corner of his eye.

"Go ahead and eat, I'm not very hungry anyway," Belle encouraged him, and he slowly picked up his fork and began to shovel down his food. But a moment later Belle's stomach growled loudly as she started to eat.

"Are you sure you're not very hungry Dearie?" he asked, but almost instantly looked stricken, "Miss Belle," he corrected himself.

Belle smiled sweetly at him, and once again he felt the desire to relax. This woman was beginning to get to him. He had almost treated her like his equal instead of the his master's daughter. The last thing he wanted was to be punished because of his old nickname tendency.

Belle hadn't expected him to call her that, but it also pleased her. It meant that he was indeed beginning to relax enough around her to call her something other than Miss, or Miss Belle.

"Ok," Belle admitted, "Maybe I'm a little hungry," Rumple instantly offered her his plate, though he still looked like he was starving.

"It's ok, you need to put on some weight anyway," Belle pushed his plate back towards him. He looked guilty for a moment then pushed his plate away from him again.

"I'm not very hungry anymore," he said softly, avoiding her eyes. She pushed the plate back towards him, but as she did so, her elbow hit her teacup, knocking it off the table. Rumplestilskin flinched at the unexpected sound.

Belle leaned over and picked it up, frowning as she saw it was chipped. "Oh, no," she mumbled unhappily, "Mrs. Lucas is going to kill me, this was her favorite set!" Rumplestilskin leaned over the table a little to see what she was talking about.

"It's just a cup Dearie, I'm sure she'll understand," he said, looking somewhat shy.

"Thanks, but this was her favorite set, and she's very particular about the dishes," Belle told him, though she felt instantly guilty about being worried over the cup. He had been through a living nightmare, and here she was scared about Mrs. Lucas being angry with her over a cup.

"May I?" he asked, holding out his hand for the cup. Belle gave it to him, and was about to scold herself aloud for being so stupid and clumsy when he spoke up, after having examined it.

"She won't be mad dearie, you can barely see where it's chipped," he said as he set the cup down on the table.

She smiled at him, "Thank you". He smiled, just a little bit before he began to wolf down the rest of his food; but it had been enough to reassure Belle that he was recovering from his ordeal, and becoming himself again.


	5. Chapter 5

For the next few days, Belle spent as much time around Rumplestilskin as possible. Despite her father's protests that Rumplestilskin was dangerous, Belle found that she just couldn't stay away from him.

Every time she made him smile, or saw him relax around her, it made her heart skip a beat, though she had little idea why. She just knew that she loved being around him.

Every morning she would have breakfast with her father and then head straight over to Rumplestilskin's room to spend almost the entire day with him. And Belle hoped that today would be no different.

As she reached his room, which was no longer being guarded most of the day, she heard something that broke her heart. It was crying.

For a moment, all she could make out was sobs then she heard him say something, "I'm sorry Bae. If-" another muffled sob ended whatever it was he had been going to say. She bit her lip, feeling her own eyes tear up at his pain, though she had no idea who bae was.

She wanted to make him feel ok again, but this time, she didn't think him seeing her would help, after all she was just his caretaker wasn't she? For some reason that thought made her heart ache. Finally Belle made up her mind, having decided that he might want to leave his room.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. The sobbing stopped instantly, making the room inside deadly quiet.

"Come in Dearie," his voice broke the silence. Belle frowned, suddenly unnerved. He didn't sound like he usually did. His voice was higher pitched, with an odd childlike quality to it. She shook herself and entered.

"Are you ok," she said, unsure if she should tell him that she heard him talking about someone just moments before. He looked up at her from where he was sitting on the bed, tears still trailing down his face.

"Yeah," he said, smiling at her. The smile didn't reach his eyes, which made her even sadder. Suddenly she wanted to make Cora pay for what she had done to this poor man, her poor Rumplestilskin.

Belle's heart skipped a beat. Why did she think that? Since when had he become hers?

"Can we read again today?" he asked, drawing her out of her thoughts.

"Actually I have something to ask you," she said, going over to the bed to sit beside him. He turned his head to look at her, his eyes surprisingly warm for someone who had been crying moments before.

"Go ahead Dearie," he said, using that strange little nickname of his instead of her name. Belle felt the corners of her mouth tilting upwards, her face beginning to grow warm.

"I was wondering why you can't use magic to heal yourself. Or why you haven't used magic at all since you've been here. Everyone tells me that before Cora, you used to use it all the time. But if I'm being nosy, you can tell me," Belle said, gazing into his deep brown eyes. For once he was meeting her gaze.

"Cora-" he said uncertainly, "she forbade me from using magic without her permission. I guess it still stands until your father tells me I can use it as I wish to". He cast his eyes down, then looked back up at her. Almost as if he was trying to decide something.

"Oh," Belle said, looking down at her lap, suddenly shy. For a while they just sat there, then Rumplestilskin took the book from her hands and began to read aloud in a strong clear voice that made her heart nearly stop.

That night, when she left Rumple so he could go to sleep she decided to head down to the kitchen for Ruby's advice about what was happening to her. After all, Ruby had far better experience that she did on many things. For one, the red haired girl had been in love before, Belle hadn't; Ruby had left the castle before, Belle hadn't.

When she found her friend, Ruby was sitting outside in the gardens, enjoying the cool night breeze. When she noticed Belle, she scooted over and patted the empty spot on the bench beside her. Belle obediently sat down and folded her hands in her lap.

Ruby tilted her head to the side and asked, "What's wrong? Is Gaston being too much of an airhead, cause I can always accidently eat him next full moon if you want". Belle glanced at her friend and smiled. Ruby and her grandmother were both werewolves, a secret that only Belle and her father knew.

"No, it's about Rumple I guess," Belle confessed. Ruby leaned closer, her piercing green eyes watching her very closely.

"He's not misbehaving is he?" she asked, her tone and facial expression revealing nothing about what she was thinking. Unlike Belle, Ruby was very good at having a Poker face at the ready.

"No, it's just, whenever I'm around him. I-I feel the need to protect him. But it's not just that, I feel butterflies in my stomach everytime he smiles at me, and my heart speeds up. Even when I'm not with him, I can't stop thinking about him," Belle said, venting her obvious frustration with her own emotions.

When Belle risked a look at her friend, having not heard her answer; Belle saw that Ruby was grinning from ear to ear, her eyes twinkling in absolute delight as well as a little disbelief.

"What's he like?" Ruby asked her.

"Well," Belle was unsure of where to begin even explaining what Rumplestilskin was like. "He was very nervous and timid at first."

"And now?" Ruby prompted.

"He's sweet. When I broke one of your grandmother's teacups the other day while I was in his room, he comforted me. But he's also really shy and uncertain, but funny. He sometimes will tell me a joke or two. Or use this weird voice where he kind of sounds like a kid, and his voice goes all high pitched," Belle could feel herself smiling as she thought about Rumplestilskin, "But other times, he's a little scared of me because I've spooked him, and-"

"You love him Belle," Ruby said, smiling happily.

"What?" Belle turned to look at her friend in sheer disbelief. Ruby smiled and took one of Belle's hands in both of hers.

"You're in love. Those feeling that you described; that's love. You're in love with Rumplestilskin, Belle" Ruby said gently.

 _Meanwhile far away at Regina's castle . . . ._

Regina ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Just behind her was Snow White, also running and pale faced with fear.

The sound of a vicious creature howling angrily tore through the once calm night. But now, both were running for their lives.

"Come on Regina, we can make it! Snow gasped, pulling ahead of the Queen. Regina tore at her dress and ran a little faster to keep pace with Snow. They were almost to the forest.

Then a massive wolf leapt in front of them, snarling viciously. Foam dripped from it's powerful jaws. It's red eyes gleamed hungrily as it stared at them, preparing to pounce.

Regina pulled Snow behind her, lifting her hand which glowed with fire.

"Leave us alone!" Regina spat, the creature merely growled and stalked towards them. Snow pulled her sword from it's sheathe.

Regina flung her hand forward, throwing the fireball at the creature which quickly leapt aside to miss the blow, and towards Regina.

Snow slashed at its muzzle with her sword, saving Regina from its ugly claws. It lashed back at them, this time Regina forced it back with her magic.

"I think we can handle this," Snow said, starting to grin, then at the sound of multiple paws pummeling the ground behind them, she frowned, fear in her clear blue eyes.

"If we go down," Regina said, eyes gleaming with savage hate, "Then we go down fighting," That's when the beasts attacked. Both woman fought, Snow slashed at their chests and faces with her sword, catching several blows from their claws and teeth. While Regina flung them away from herself and Snow with magic before trying to burn them with her fireballs.

Right before a huge beast landed on Regina, an arrow shot through the air and knocked the creature away, killing it instantly.

 _Sorry for the long wait, computer problems. Anyway tell me what you guys think of this chapter._


End file.
